So, why don't you re-bevel your knives?

I reprofile probably 70% of my knives. I generally test the factory edge before I make any drastic changes. Most quality knives are suitable, but not optimized, for EDC tasks. A belt grinder and an Edge Pro make reprofiling relativerly painless.
 
Artilary6 said:
I would hate the tear up a blade trying to rebevel as well. I am trying to understand the best way to go about sharpening knives. If micro bevels were the way to go, my first thought is that companies, at least high end ones, would add them to knife designs. But i've never seen a new knife come with a micro on it. So, what is better? Maybe most people use micros because its a hassle to match an angle without proper equipment? An edge pro would do it, but how could it be done with a sharpmaker? Maybe use shims? Hmm....I've seen someone here mention shims before...think it was Esav.
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Rebeveling is really not that hard. It doesn't "tear up a blade" any more than sharpening does.

As I understand it rebeveling is simply sharpening to a different angle. If you are sharpening and matching the angle you are going to remove minimal material to ensure the bevels match. If you are rebeveling you are just sharpening at new angle. You are still going to remove minimal material to ensure the bevels meet.
 
I don't rebevel my kitchen knives because most of them are spot-on poifect. Okay, so some got that treatment (Tojiro, Forschner, Takeda), but now they're spot-on...

My outdoors entertainment knives get rebevelled so they'll bite deeper into trees and the pocketknives usually so they'll bite better and mostly to look all shiny below the relief-grind scratches.

So that's why I don't and do do that.
 
I sharpen by hand and bevel angles don't get measured very accurately. I know what a shallow angle is and I know what a slightly steeper angle is. I re-profile or re-bevel so that the bevels fit the way my wrist works. I take the small, thick Busses back to a thinner edge than stock because I really don't think I'll be chopping through car hoods with it but the big choppers still get laid back a little for that extra bite on lumber and brush. It isn't always easy and some days I jus' aint got it but with practice I can get my blades back into shape with just a couple stones.
 
I just recently rebeveled my Busse Badger Attack. I did the initial work with the coarsest emery cloth I could find at the hardware store. Even so it took well over an hour of diligent work (I went very thin) and then maybe another hour to finish and polish the edge. I don't look forward to doing it again, but its totally worth the trouble. Every time I start a project like this, the idea of getting a belt sander moves up several notches on the need-to-have list.
 
sodak said:
You mean like this?
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/p1010002-1.jpg

or this?
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/p1010010-1.jpg

I like re-beveling, it really improves performance. It can be done too much though, like this:
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/p1010048.jpg

I generally find the risk is worth it, given the huge increase in cutting efficiency.
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That is really not that bad, the scratches look pretty minimal. I have seen much worse than that, like the last photo but without the chipped blade.
 
First, for all of you now using the politically correct ;) "re-bevel", the truth is, when you thin an edge, you are, in fact, changing the profile of the blade . . .





as viewed from the tip (or a cross section of the blade). :D Let's face it, a 3-dimensional object has more than 1 profile. Hence, "reprofile" is entirely accurate. Hey you word police -- you're being technical, so I get to be technical too! ;)

Okay, I thin the edges of most of my knives to 15, 12.5 or 10 degrees per side, and then maintain sharpness with a mircobevel (I may start calling it a "micro-profile") using a Sharpmaker. Very simply, a thinner than stock blade performs better for how I use it, generally speaking. Also, it's easier to maintain. But I don't do it on every knife I own. Some are acceptably thin from the factory, by my standards. I'm not out to win thread/newsprint cutting contests.

But to be the devils advocate, why bother with thin? What's the matter -- got weak wrists? ;)
 
that's the reason I still call it reprofiling, cause the profile of the edge is seen in the blade cross section. And I've noticed rebeveling confusing people who seem to think it means changing the primary grind.
 
Well you two don't catch as much flack from Bill DeShivs about it as I have and reprofiling can mean turning a drop point into a clip point whereas rebevelling means what it means (and if the primary gets thinned, huzzah!).

I reprofile with my course stones. :p
 
I think the confusion comes from the fact that "profile" has more than one meaning. It can mean a side view, as in a portrait of someone's head seen from the side, but it can also mean the representation of something in outline without reference to side. When I say I've reprofiled a blade, I mean I've changed the outline of it's shape in terms of looking at its cross section.
 
I consider changing the primary grind or the shape of the blade to be both aspects of reprofiling.

Changing the bevel angle is just that but when you do that you can understand how some would say its reprofiling since it cuts into the primary grind technically. I mean wouldn't it be reprofiling to put a standard 15` edge bevel on a convex grind knife?

On most knives I like about an 18 to 20 degree bevel but some seem to take fine to a 15` bevel. I've had some I've done in 15` and followed up with a secondary bevel of like 20 to 21` and most always these are S30V blades. All my 13C26 blades hold a 15` bevel just fine and function quite well at that.

STR
 
I always seem to rebevel one side and reprofile on the other side. Both sides I like to get around a 10 to 14 degree convex edge angle per side give or take an angle or two.
 
There needs to be consistency in terminology. "Reprofiling" by itself is not very explanatory. "Reprofiling the edge", maybe.
If knives were properly ground to a thin edge suitable for actually cutting, rebeveling would hardly be necessary. Most makers don't understand this, and grind their blades like a cross between a battle axe and a prybar.
 
One side is what I'm referring to so when I say 15` I'm talking 30` like on the Sharpmaker but 15` for the Edge Pro or Lansky set up for sharpeners.

It does seem that many makers adopt the policy that obtuse is better for long life with less trouble for them Bill. Manufacturers too and who can blame them really? When you see what end line users actually do with their knives I think many actually need a cross between a chisel and a pry bar because anything that actually was thin enough to cut with in the hands of these types would just get turned in as faulty for warranty calls after they chipped it all up and broke it.

One thing I've picked up with most of the good ole boy end line users out there in the non knife nut world usin' knives is that they always feel they know more than they do about what a knife can take and what it can't and that when something breaks or goes south on them with the knife they carry it seems they blame everything and anything other than themselves. Its always the knives at fault you know even when it was used as screwdriver or a prybar or left sitting out all night opened on the back porch wet to find it in the morning with pits on it? :D Ok ok, slight exaggeration but not by much. :thumbup:


STR
 
That's actually no exaggeration. I know a few who get quite indignant when a tip gets snapped off from screwdriver activity. "Get your money back!" Yeah, right...
 
I don't get too nuts with my rebevels. I only rebevel to about 15 to 17 degrees. Just enough to touch up on the Sharpmaker 20 setting. I'll do slippies a little lower to micro on the 15 setting. I gave up anything drastic after bringing my Endura down to about 12 or 13. All that work and it was still the same great Endura. That's when I figured I'd tailor my purchases more, rather than tailor the knife. Away from work I like a thin blade. Since I always have an SAK on my key chain, that's covered. Some knives fool you though. The Native will pass through cardboard like a box cutter if you just use the tip with your thumb as a depth stop. The Camillus Heat is another. It's high flat grind and long false edge make it a terrific slicer. Both knives stand up to hard use at the workplace. The Centofante III and IV fool you the opposite way. With their 2mm blades they look like dedicated slicers but are stout enough to see you through some tough materials.

I appreciate the quest for uber sharpness/thinness but I just don't see myself making all my knives into fillet knives. I do enjoy reading about it and love the pics. Especially the Tom Krein grinds but I'm too lazy to do it myself, and too cheap to have it done. :D
 
If its a knife with a nice warrenty, wouldn't rebeveling it void that warrenty? Besides, sometimes, you do break things and are able to blame it on the manufacturer. :D
 
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